Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-01-17
ON. PIECES OF WRECK.
DIR. TALGAGE breaches \ VIGOROUS SER,
MON on THE VOYAGEOP LIFE.
How Many Arrive at the HarbOr on Broken Pieces
Of The Ship-The Vessel Compared TO Oar
heOlOgy-One Plank of Truth Sufficient.
Cling TO the Simple Cross
Special Te,egrdm 10 The Register.

years the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the largest
Protestant church in America, has been
throDged twice on the Sabbath, every
available inch occupied, even the aisles,
pulpit stairs and doorways, and multitudes
going away unable to get in. DR.. Talmage
recently announced TO his congregation
that, if the present building could be sold
for an Academy of Music, another church.
one holding ten thousand people, would be
erected. This morning, after expounding
the Scriptures, he gave out the hymn:
"Sinncrs turn, why will ye die?
God, your Maker, asks you why"
The subject of the sermon was Broken
Pieces of the Ship" and the text, Acts
xvii, Az "Some on broken pieces of the
ship" DR.. Talmage spoke as follows:
Never off Goodwin Sands, or the Skerries
or Cape Hatteras was in q ship in worse
predicament than in
TIE MEDITERRANEAN HURRICANE,
was the grain ship, on which two hundred
and seventy-six passengers were driven or
the coast of Malta, five miles from the
metropolis of that island, called Citta
Vecchia. After two weeks tempest and
the ship was entirely disabled and captain
and crew had become entirely demOralized
an old missionary took command of the
vessel. He was small, crOOked-backed,
sore-eyed, according to tradition. 1t was
Paul the only unscared man aboard. He
was no more afraid of Euroclydon tossing
the Mediterranean Sea, now up to the
gates OF heaven and now sinking it to the
gates of hell, than he was afraid Of kitten
playing with string. He ordered them
all to take their rations, first asking fol
them blessing Then he insured them
all their lives, telling them they would be
rescued, and so far from losing their heads
they should not lose SO much of their hail
as you could cut off with one click of the
scissors; aye not q thread of it, whether il
were gray with age or golden with youth
"There shall not hair fall from the head
of any of you"
Knowing that they can never get to tn,
desired port they make the sea on thC
fourteenth night black with
OVERTHROW CARGO,
so that when the ship strikes it will not
strike so heavily. At daybrcak they saw
4 creek, and in their eXigency resolved t.
make for it. And so they cut the cables
took in the two paddles that they had on
these old beats and hOiStcd the main-sai
so that they might come with such force 4.
TO be driven high up on the beach by some
fortunate hillow. There she gOcs-tumb
| ling toward the rocks, now prov fore
most now stern foremost now rolling OveI
to StaTbOard now wave dasheS clear Ovel
| the deck and it seems rs if the old Graf
has gone forever. But rs she comes VI
again, Paul's arm around mast, he cries
"All is well, God has given ME all those
that sail with mem Crash! went tn,
prov with such force that it broke Off the
mast. Crash! went the timbcrs till the
sea washed through from side to side o
the vessel. She parts amidShips, and int
Il thousand fragments the vessel goes, anC
into the waves 2T6 immortals are precipi
tated. Some of them had been brought
up on the seashore and had learned t.
swim, and with their chin just above the
waves and by stroke of both arms and pro
pulsion of both feet they put out for the
beach and reach it. But alas for those
others! They have never learned to swim
or the nervous shock was too great foI
them. And Others had been weakened BY
long sea-sickness.
"Oh, what will become of them? TAX,
that piece of a rudder," says Paul to one.
Take that fragment OF q spar" says Pau
to another Take that table" Take
that image OF Castor and Pollux." TAKE
that plank from the lifebnat." 'Tak'
anything and head for the beach," Wha
a struggle for life in the breakers! Oh, the
merCilcSs waters, how they sweep over the
heads of men, women and children! HOLD
Oh there! Almost ashore, keep up you
courage! Remember what Paul told you
There, the receding wave on the beacl
leaves in the sand whole family. Ther,
crawls up out of the surf the centurion
There another plank comes in with lit'
clingng fast to it. There another piece o
the shattered vessel with it's ircightagc o.
an immor tai soul. They must hy this time
all he saved. Yes; there comes in last o
all, for he had been overseeing the rest
the old missionary, who wrings the wate
from his gray beard and cries out: 'Thanl
God, all are hcrcI'
| Gather them around fire and
CALL THE ROLL.
Panl builds fire, and when the bundle:
of sticks begin to cracklc, and standing
and sitting around the blaze, the passen
gers begin to recover from their chill, anC
their wet clothes begin tO dry, and warmth
begins to come into all the shivcring pas
sengers, let the purser of the vessel e
round and see if any of the poor creature:
are missing. Not one of the crowd tha
we're plunged into the sea. How it re
licveS our anxiety as we read: Some oil
broken pieces of the ship, and so it came
to pass they all escaped safe TO land
Having on previous occasions looked a
the other passengers, cOnfne myself to
day to an examination OF those who cam,
in Oh broken pieces Of tie ship. There il
something about them that eXcites IN mi
an intense interest. am not 81
much interested in those thai
could swim. They got ashore as
expected A mile of water is not a very
great undertaking for strong swimmer
or even two miles are not. But | cannO
stop thinking about those On broken piece
of the ship. The great Gospel ship is the
finest vessel OF the universe and can carry
more passengers than any craft ever con
structed, and you could no more wreck i
than you could wreck the throne Of Coo
Almighty. wish all the people woult
come aboard her. could not promise {
smooth voyage, for Outlines it will he TEN
pestuous or a chopped sea, bpt ! could
promise safe arrival iar all who took pass
age on that Great Eastern, so called by
me because its commander came out Of thu
East, the star OF the East . badge of hi
authority.
| But a vast multitude
DO NOT TAKE REGULAR PASSAGE.
Their theology is broken in pieces, and
their habits are broken in pieces, and theil
worldly and spiritual prospects are broker
in pieces, and yet believe they are going
to reach the shining shore, and am en-
couraged by the experience of those people
who are spoken of in the text: Some on
broken pieces of the ship"
One object in this sermon is to encouragt
all those who cannot take the whole sys
tenn of religion as we believe it, hut who
realIy heliavs snrefbiDp u come ashore